Just as the subject says, has anyone ever lucked out finding OOP manga, you know, without having to pay $100-200 on Ebay or Amazon Market place for it.

I bring this up because this week I've been able to find NEW copies of two manga that I would have been paying exorbitant prices for at the aforementioned websites. For the longest time I had been wanting to read Viz's From Far Away and Red River and I thought to myself eh, why not try seeing how much I can get the entire series for now?. So I did and to my surprise, random volumes from both series were hard to find at SRP :/ specifically From Far Away's Vol. 13 and Red River's Vol. 15...here's FFA at Amazon going for around $40 used and RR at the Viz Website for $90 :[

And was disappointed because I didn't want to invest in two series if I couldn't find all the volumes at a reasonable price :[

However I randomly found FFA vol. 13 at Justmanga.com for SRP and really REALLY randomly found RR vol. 15 at my local Borders for SRP (and got to use a coupon too!). Needless to say I snached up both of them and now I'm planning to start buying both series since I know I can probably get the rest of the volumes. Yayyyy! I have never felt more lucky buying manga! Ever!!

I hope there are other people out there who have been as lucky, as I have this week, in finding, let's say, OOP volumes of Basara (which really goes for a LOT).

I ordered my Basara volumes at my local comic shop- you might want to try that outlet, as sometimes Diamond might have random volumes in stock still. I did the same thing with Please Save My Earth- getting later volumes ASAP is a good idea too, since they tend to have had lower print runs. Managed to get most of Jojo's Bizarre Adventurs too, though it seems the longer you wait, the less of it's still available, so it's a good idea to get stuff right away.

With older titles, it's a good idea to check as many outlets as possible, from online stores to bookstores to comic shops, to used book websites- not all of them are offering titles at Crazy Amazon Dealer prices. Large used book sellers like Powells http://www.powells.com/home.html?header=Logo are another spot to check.

I'm hoping that VIZ.com listing is a pricing error. O_o

A lot of folks wait until a series is finished to start collecting it, which used to be practical when print runs were higher, and reprints were more common. Some titles do get reprinted like crazy [I found Wolfs Rain vol.1+2, with he colour inserts. Old stock? Nope, reprinted in mid-2009 for the 6th or so time], but a lot of stuff just gets that first printing and doesn't attract much attention. Best to get while getting's good.

I actually used JustManga myself for Please Save My Earth 1 and 13, made me so happy! Now I tend to check them right away for my rare needs, if they have it, DA-AAMN!

Otherwise....well there's cons, I found three volumes of What's Michael? at Otakon that weren't volume 10 or 11 which I already had. And volume 1 of Phoenix, last one I needed of that.

And then used bookstores sometimes. I found volume 6 of Akira for $8 and it was like new. Of course, my University library got the series so I got to read it and didn't like it so now I actually want to get rid of that volume of Akira but the point is I found it. I should hurry up while I can still get upwards of $90 for it.

Also, there's a comic book store near my school that gets consignment manga and sells them new for $5 each. I got a ton of Wallflower for $5 each, which aren't too rare, but then also got the first 4 volumes of Kodocha, first 3 of Eternal Sabbath and volume 11 and 15 of Mars (for a friend, they had the entire series there but she only needed those volumes) for the same low price brand new. I check back there every two weeks or so, hoping they'll get the rest of Kodocha sometime soon But then this same shop wasn't able to get Please Save My Earth 13 when I tried to order it through them so thank god for JustManga after all.

So there's always odds and ends, not to mention trying to trade with people over here or MAL every so often.

I'm pretty good at finding rare manga with limited resources (=living in the Netherlands without a creditcard of paypal). In an hour time, I was able to gather Kodocha 1-3 and 5-10 for under €45 total. Several books were new.

I got like five volumes of Five Star Stories for a bargain bin together with several volumes of What's Michael. Three of my What's Michaels were only €2 (and I paid the same for Club 9).

I bought Firefighter Daigo 1-20 for €100.

Sometimes I can't find what I'm looking for, but that's when friends step in and help. That's how I got Basara 20, Here is Greenwood 7, Banana Fish 3 and Saint Seiya 10.

Someone at this forum mentioned the Anime Corner Store still had some copies of Basara 20 left. A friend found some Daigo volumes there he still needed, so we placed an order together. Turns out they only had two Basara 20's left. Mine arrived just fine and didn't cost me a cent more than $9,99. The final one was put on Amazon.com for $399,99.

I guess I'm pretty lucky. But I promise I don't just use it for my own personal gain! I help other people too. At another forum someone asked where he could find Sanctuary 1-9 and within five minutes I was able to answer.

Actually, we have a handy little informal information network for stuff like this. BOOKMan - Beweging voor Onderschatte, Onbekende Klasse Manga. We promote lesser known manga and help people find OOP manga.

(Please don't think we take this to seriously. It's just a lot of fun to dig through bargain bins to find that one volume you or someone else has been looking for forever.)

Ebay is my friend as well. I found the welcome to the NHK novel in a lot with some library discards. The thing is, Welcome to the NHK was not listed in the title-so people looking for the oop title wouldnt find it in a search bar. I ended up paying $9 for a lot of 15 books, and then selling the Fruits Basket later for $9. In one sense, it was free!

eBay lots for a complete set always cost less than buying stuff individually. Banana Fish 1-19 cost me $70, Maison Ikkoku 1-15 cost me like $50, Excel Saga 1-10 cost me $50- and then I went and sold volume 7 and 8 for $50 each!* (which I then used to buy even more manga, of course)

*Actually, someone begged me to give them volume 8 to complete their collection, so I let them have it for $5 instead.

Adolf V.1 - 8.49
Comics Underground Japan - 10.95 (Didn't get such a bargain with Secret Comics Japan at 23.94(19.95) but it at least was in brand new condition and it had an excerpt from Palepoli)
Basara V.19 - 4.99 (And in brand new condition, too! Now if I could only find V.20)
Saikano V.4 & 7 - 7.94 and 9.50 respectively
A, A Prime - 6.25
Short Program V.2 - 8.95
Please Save My Earth V.1-2 - 0.36 & 0.81 respectively (Now to find V. 7 & 13. All the other volumes I can find in stock.)

A comic book shop around my home was selling copies of Kodocha and Sailor Moon (at a higher price because it was OOP). Other than that though, I haven't had much luck. Which is frustrating as all heck because I want the seventh (and final) volume of Saikano, which has been unavailable for over a year now, despite the rest of the series being quite easily found -_- However, I'll use the resources listed here and see if I can finally get my hands on a copy.

Edit: Alas, all of the places listed here (besides eBay) are all out. I have found one Canadian store which has a listing that doesn't say out of print. I sent an email to see if this is actually true or not.

I did. A few months ago, I found out that Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina and Negima) wrote a third series, A.I Love You. However A.I love you has been OOP for years. My mum actually gave me a website to look on, Booktopia (Australian only website, though) and, even better they were really cheap at only $6 AUS each.

I did. A few months ago, I found out that Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina and Negima) wrote a third series, A.I Love You. However A.I love you has been OOP for years. My mum actually gave me a website to look on, Booktopia (Australian only website, though) and, even better they were really cheap at only $6 AUS each.

In the Netherlands and Belgium we have this thing called the 'Boekenfestijn'. It's like a moving megamart filled with leftover books. It's the last stop before the schredder for Tokyopop books. The lucky ones can find OOP stuff there for €1,95 per volume. I know people who picked up atleast half of the Sailor Moon series for that price there. Last year, there were big stacks of A.I. Love You.

Actually I buy from Justmanga a lot. They are practically my first stop.

As for OOP yes I have caught a few good deals:

Last week I bought Lone Wolf and Cub 27 off ebay for $10 including shipping. Which is fantastic since this particular volume runs about $150 elsewhere - what a rip!

I've picked up almost all 10 vols of Cyborg 009 from Bookdepository for the listed price of the vol (i.e. about 9.99 USD).

Another one would be CLAMP's School Detectives, Man of Many Faces, and Paranormal Investigators. I picked up most of these came from a Denver comic book shop that I communicate with. Most I was able to get at list price or slightly cheaper.

Lastly, there is a second hand book shop nearby that had Iron Wok Jan 2 the other day in brand new condition. I picked that up for about $5.

My only real bragging right is that I usually manage to be just ahead of the curve - meaning I complete a series before it goes OOP. *knocks on wood*

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